Class, Culture and Agency: Researching parental voice

Vincent, Carol; Martin, Jane

doi:10.1080/01596300220123079

Cited by 51 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Robertson noted that "…(m)uch of the choice/markets agenda has been shaped by the criticism of schools as inefficient bureaucracies that are unresponsive either to community or individual interests" (Robertson, 2000, p.174). This may well be the case in general, and there is certainly evidence that some working class parents feel they struggle to be heard (see for example Vincent and Martin, 2002;Gewirtz et al, 2005). However, the schools attended by the children in our study were highly responsive to the interventions of parents, both through official channels and informally, via personal and professional contacts between parents and heads or teachers.…”

Section: The Mutual Dependency Between Schools and Middle Class Familiesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Neoliberal Policy and the Meaning of Counterintuitive Middle-class School Choices

et al. 2010

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K. (2010) Neoliberal policy and the meaning of counterintuitive middle-class school choices. Current Sociology, 58 (4). p. ISSN 0011-3921We recommend you cite the published version. The publisher's URL is http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011392110368003Refereed: Yes (no note) Disclaimer UWE has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. UWE makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.UWE makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights. UWE accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. 3 Introduction Michael Apple speaks for many when he notes the "…increasingly powerful discourses and policies of neo-liberalism concerning privatisation, marketisation, performativity, and the "enterprising individual"". Apple also suggests "…that any analysis of these discourses and policies must critically examine their class and race and gender effects at the level of who benefits from their specific institutionalisations and from their contradictory functions within real terrains of social power" (Apple, 2001, p.409, emphasis added). This paper attempts to enter into such a critical examination with regard to "counter-intuitive" educational choices amongst white middle class families in urban England. We begin by describing a research study that has provided data and analysis which we feel helps to illuminate the issues at hand. We then suggest two ways in which the situation being studied is "globally connected" -one to do with parental readings of social change, the other to do with neo-liberal discourse. This leads us to highlight the importance of a mutual affinity between middle class families and state secondary schools in performative conditions. Finally, we argue that dominant themes in policy do not reflect the complexity and subtlety of the relationship between social class and education, and that contrary to appearances, the experiences and effects of counter-intuitive school choice suggest the continuation of class-based advantage being realised through educational means, albeit in a subtle and unusual form.

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Section: The Mutual Dependency Between Schools and Middle Class Familiesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Neoliberal Policy and the Meaning of Counterintuitive Middle-class School Choices

et al. 2010

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“…Parents take an active role when processing information, but they do not formulate their ideas in a vacuum; on the contrary, their ideas are constructed in a specific sociocultural context (Poikolainen, 2002;Vincent & Martin, 2002). In short, choosing strategies are bound to a local context, and are guided by different possibilities and norms.…”

Section: Parents' Resources Intertwined With Choicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Case Study of Parents' School Choice Strategies in a Finnish Urban Context

Poikolainen

2012

European Educational Research Journal

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This article analyses how Finnish parents of sixth graders in a comprehensive school act in the local 'school markets' of the case city. The parents' subject positions as choosers are reflected on and explored in relation to the discourses and resources they use when discussing their school choices. The data were gathered in 2009 by administering a questionnaire (n = 374) and by conducting interviews with 76 of the respondents. The main data used here were thematic interviews, which were analysed using the discoursive approach. The analysis revealed that the parents used three different types of subject positions and discourses when having conversations about their choices and when considering their options. These discourses used were partly overlapping and unexpectedly social, and cultural resources were capitalised on less than previously assumed. Contrary to earlier European research on school choices, most parents in this study were not eager to choose any other school than their allocated local school, because they trusted the quality of Finnish comprehensive schools. The parents' thoughts and actions were notably guided and governed by the local school authorities, according to whom the local school is good enough.

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“…Personal values include instrumental values-the most commonly referred to, which focus on the exchange value of education (success, credentials and access to the job market)-but also expressive values centred on the intrinsically pleasant aspects of education and school life and reflexive values which link schooling to intellectual development and to critical reflection and action. Impersonal values, related to duties to others, refer to equality and its different conceptions (equality of opportunity, equality of results, equity) and to integration and its different versions (for instance integration into one's own group or favouring interconnectedness between social groups) (Vincent & Martin, 2002).…”

Section: A Comprehensive Model Of Choice: Policies Strategies Contementioning

confidence: 99%

Choosing the local school: middle class parents' values and social and ethnic mix in London and Paris

Raveaud

Zanten²

2006

Journal of Education Policy

153

129

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This paper analyses a specific kind of choice, choice of the local school, by a specific middle class group, characterized by its high cultural capital, its 'caring' perspective and liberal political orientation Using the same open-ended schedule, 28 interviews were carried out in one London locality and 38 in a similar locality in the Parisian periphery (plus 12 others in a nearby private school). Its main purpose was to use a cross-Channel comparison to test and enrich a comprehen-sive model of school choice that tries to take into account the complex interaction between policies, strategies, contexts, resources and values.

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Class, Culture and Agency: Researching parental voice

Cited by 51 publications

References 6 publications

Neoliberal Policy and the Meaning of Counterintuitive Middle-class School Choices

Neoliberal Policy and the Meaning of Counterintuitive Middle-class School Choices

A Case Study of Parents' School Choice Strategies in a Finnish Urban Context

Choosing the local school: middle class parents' values and social and ethnic mix in London and Paris

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